Yarn packaging means



April 19, 1960 H. c. KENNEDY 2,933,263

YARN PACKAGING MEANS Filed June 29, 1955 FIG. I F|G.2

INVENTOR Hoyt C. Kennedy ATTORNEY Unit The present invention relates toyarn collecting devices and more particularly to yarn packaging meanssuch as take-up bobbins, spools, and beams that are used in theformation and treatment of yarns.

Nylon yarn has been referred to as a yarn with a memory since itselastic recovery is excellent. Although nylon yarn will not immediatelyreturn to its original length, it will return or creep back slowly undernormal conditions to its original length. in some instances nylon yarnmay take several days or longer to recover fully under no loadcondition. This delayed recovery action necessitates uniform threadtensions in forming yarn packages since the nylon yarn does not actuallysnap back or recover immediately after release of tension but itconstantly attempts to return or reorient itself to its original shape.When nylon yarn is collected in a stretched condition particularly itwill exert a tremendous crushing force upon any packages on which it iswound until allowed or permitted to contract. The crushing forcenormally exerted by stretched nylon yarn has necessitated greater careand attention to the winding of cones, spools, bobbins, and beams sincethe more wraps the package contains the greater will be the potentialcrushing action on the supporting yarn package device. Furthermore, whennylon yarn is exposed to elevated temperature increased tensions arerequired to keep the yarn from shrinking. This shrinking action furtherproduces tensions which have not been encountered in the use of theconventional yarns made from animal or vegetable fibers.

Replacement and repair costs have increased considerably with the use ofnylon and several of the other synthetic yarns because several of theseyarns, whether of the monofilament or multifilament type, have thisinherent physical property which tends to urge the yarn to return to itsoriginal length. This delayed recovery produces a crushing action onwound yarn convolutions which is particularly destructive by distorting'or twisting the barrels and flanges of bobbins, and also destroyingspools and cones.

In at least one process for producing stretch nylon yarn, the yarn iswound on a deformable cylindrical tube that is usually made of cardboardor other suitable deformable material, to form an initial yarn package.The yarn wound in convolutions on the deformable tube usually has sometwist imparted to the yarn prior to winding on the tube. This yarnpackage is then subjected to a yarn setting temperature which causes theconvolutions of yarn to shrink appreciably thereby causing thedeformable tube to collapse under the greatly increased stresses thatare exerted by the shrinking yarn. In this way a crimped or wavy effectis imparted to the yarn filaments since the yarn twist is set while inthe yarn twisted condition. Yarn Wound on the deformed tube is usuallyremoved therefrom and subsequently subjected to a fluid treatment suchas dyeing, after which the yarn is wound onto a take-up bobbin which mayhe subse quently mounted to a creel. Some of the yarn adjacent to thedeformed tube is wasted as it is not recoverable from within the foldsof the tube.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a yarnpackaging means for receiving convolutions of nylon yarn or the like ona barrel periphery without subjecting the packaging device to permanentdistortion.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a yarn packagingdevice which will permit convolutions of yarn Wound thereon to besubjected to a fluid or heat treatment whereby the yarn will shrinkreadily without injuring the packaging device.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a reusable yarncollecting means having a yieldable yarn supporting body on whichconvolutions of yarn may be wound and permitted to shrink withoutsubjecting the yarn supporting body to permanent distortion.

Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of a yarncollecting bobbin having a yieldable yarn collecting periphery that isfreely reducible when subjected to stresses produced by the shrinkage ofyarn convolutions wound on the yieldable periphery.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a flangedbobbin with a yieldable yarn collecting barrel that is formed by aplurality of longitudinally extending elements that are eachdisplaceable radially when subjected to yarn stresses produced by thecontraction of yarn wound on the elements which describe the barrelperiphery.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a yarncollecting bobbin having means for resiliently supporting longitudinallyextending elements on which yarn may be collected for radialdisplacement as the yarn is subjected to yarn stresses.

Yet further objects of the present invention are to provide a yarncollecting device having readily removable and interchangeable parts,one that is simple to assemble and requires a minimum of maintenance andcare, and one which may be readily modified to compensate for therelative shrinkage diiferentials encountered in various yarn deniers.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention foruse in the collecting and processing of synthetic yarns particularlynylon, Will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art during thecourse of the following description when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in whichlike characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view, with a section removed, of one formof the present invention in the form of a flanged bobbin in an initialcondition of the yarn package having several yarn convolutions thereon;

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of the bobbin illus trated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of thebobbin of Fig. 1 illustrating another condition of the yarn package;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially along theplane of line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a partial side elevational view illustrating a modification ofthe present invention;

Fig. 6 is an end elevational view of the modified structure illustratedin Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings and particularly to Fig. 1 there isillustrated therein a yarn package that is formed on a flanged bobbinwhich comprises, broadly, a central spindle on which are mounted flangesthat are axially spaced from one another to confine yarn convolutionstherebetween, as the yarn is wound on longitudinally extending elementsthat are normally a suitable resilient means.

urged outwardly by aseaaee For the purposes of this description the termtake-up bobbin or bobbin shall be used for illustration only and not forlimitation, since the inventive concept may be equally applicable withsome minor structural modifications to cones, spools, headless bobbins,and also to beams.

The bobbin is provided with a spindle 11 having a threaded portion 12 ateach spindle end that are spaced axially from each other and over whicha flange or bobbin head 13 will pass to be positioned firmly against aspindle shoulder 14. Flange retaining caps 15 are threadably engaged tothe threaded spindle portions on the spindle and are securely fastenedin position by a suitable spanner tool which will engage within theblind holes 16. Each flange 13 has a central opening 17 to receive thebobbin spindle therethrough and also a plurality of radially extendingslots 18 that are preferably spaced uniformly from the center of theflange so that each slot extends outwardly for an equal distance. Theflanges 13 are mounted on the spindle with the slots 18 in each flangealigned to receive one end of a rigid rod element 19 that is slidablyguided in the flange slots '18 for radial movement. As

clearly illustrated in Fig. 4 there is provided a plurality of rodelements that extend longitudinally between the flanges and the elementsare circumferentially spaced from each other to form a barrel peripheryon which yarn may be wound.

A cylindrical helical spring 20 having a rectangular cross sectionextends axially between the end flanges 13. The outside diameter of thehelical spring 20, in the spring relaxed condition, will urge or biaseach of the elements 19 to the outermost radial position within theslots 18, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The helical pitch of thespring 20 may be designed so that the intermediate portion of eachelement 19 may be supported against any deflection intermediate thelength of the element as yarn is wound thereon.

The spring 20 may be designed for the requisite resilience that willcorrespond to the tension with which the yarn is wound onto the elements19. In this way, as

yarn is initially wound to form a yarn package the elements 19 willremain in the outermost radial position and the spring 20 will not besubjected to any load stresses or tortional distortion.

Although the present invention as above described may be used in placeof the conventional take-up bobbins for forming nylon yarn packageswithout encountering the destructive crushing effects of the nylon yarn,with some structural modifications the bobbin may be used effectively inthe production of stretch nylon yarn. In the batch type process ofproducing stretch yarn, nylon yarn is first processed to impart a twistto the yarn and then the yarn is wound on a deformable cardboard tube toform a yarn package. The complete yarn package is then subjected to aplasticizing yarn-setting temperature at which time the nylon yarnconvolutions exert a tremendous crushing effect during shrinkage tocompletely deform the tube on which the yarn is wound. Yarn isthereafter removed from the tube with some yarn loss occuring adjacentto the crushed tube. Due to the impenetrability of the heat treatingmedium, usually steam,-

into the yarn convolutions adjacent to the deformable tube there is agreat deal of non-uniformity in the end product, particularly in thelast layers of yarn close to the tube.

Therefore, by providing a series of axially spaced openings 21 withinthe flange spindle 11 as well as arcuate openings 22 within the flangeretaining cap 15 the yarn heat treating medium, such as steam, maypenetrate into the inner yarn convolutions as well as the outer yarn toproduce a more uniform end yarn product. As the yarn is subjected tothis heat treatment the convolutions of yarn shrink and cause thelongitudinally extending elements 19 to move radially inward therebycausing the spring to be subjected to some torsional distortion and andinto the yarn through the openings 21 therein.

A further modification of the inventive concept is depicted in Figs. 5and 6 wherein there is illustrated a pair of axially spaced spiders 25,each of which is provided with a plurality of radially projectingresilient leg members 26. Each of the leg members 26 has at its distalend an element bearing surface 27 on which a longitudinal yarnsupporting element 28 may be secured as by V the fastening means 2?. Insome instances the leg. members 26 may be inclined from the verticaldepending upon the biasing or resiliency required. Furthermore, thebearing surface 27 may be provided with an elongated slot so that thefastening means may slide therein during radial movement of the elements28. The individual leg members 26 may be turned substantially normal toform a fastening lip Sil which may be fastened as by spot welding orother suitable means to the rim of the ring 31.

The embodiment shown in Figs; 5 and 6 may be used as a headless bobbinor the spider elements may be axially spaced and mounted on a bobbinbarrel, cone or on a beam modifying the relative size to suit theapplication, and the yarn may be wound on the elements 28 that form abarrel or yarn receiving periphery. Subsequent fluid treatment of theyarn package may be facilitated with this modification as' with thepreviously described embodiment.

It has been found desirable to use non-corrosive metals which have therequisite physical properties for essentially all the structuralelements due to the possible corrosive action of the various fluids towhich the yarn package may be subjected. However, it is contemplatedthat laminated plastic materials may be used effectively for some of theelements. On those units presently tested able yarn receivingperipheryas well as the resilient means for supporting this periphery inthe light of the above teachings without departing from the real purposeof this invention. It is therefore to be understood that within thescope of the appended claims many modified forms of structure as well asthe use of mechanical equivalents may be reasonably included andmodifications are contemplated.

What is claimed is:

l. A device of the character described for use in receiving yarnconvolutions to form a yarn package comprising a spindle having a hollowcore and axially and circumferentially spaced openings communicatingwith the hollow core, flanges axially spaced and slidably received onsaid spindle, each of said flanges having a central spindle receivingopening and a plurality of slots radiating from the central opening andin spaced relation thereto, each of said slots extending between radiallimits, said flanges being mounted on the spindle to provide slotalignment between flanges, flange retaining helical spring having arectangular cross section encircling said spindle and spaced radiallytherefrom to normally urge said plurality of elements outwardly to aradial limit whereby upon fluid treatment and shrinkage of said yarn thestresses to which the yarn convolutions are subjected will reduce theyarn supporting periphery which is free to move inwardly.

2. A device of the character described for use in receiving yarnconvolutions to form a yarn package comprising a spindle having a hollowcore and a plurality of openings communicating with the hollow core,flanges axially spaced on said spindle, each of said flanges having acentral spindle receiving opening and a plurality of radially extendingslots spaced from the central opening, each of said slots extendingbetween radial limits, said flanges being mounted on the spindle toprovide slot alignment between flanges, flange retaining caps mounted onthe spindle adjacent to each of the flanges to resist axial thrust onthe flanges produced by a crushing action of yarn wound between theflanges said caps extending radially outward to substantially cover theslots in the flanges, a plurality of elements reaching between andreceivable in the flange slots, said elements being spaced to provide asupporting periphery for receiving yarn thereabout, resilient meanscooperatively engaging and supporting said elements in an outwarddirection substantially to an outer radial slot limit whereby there isprovided a yieldable yarn supporting periphery which will permit radialmovement of the elements to an inner radial slot limit.

3. A device of the character described for supporting CJI convolutionsof yarn thereon comprising axially spaced end members, longitudinallyextending means for receiving yarn convolutions thereon extendingbetween said end members and cooperatively receivable therein for guidedradial displacement, said means including at least one pair ofdiametrically opposite linear elements, and a helical spring meansbearing on said elements substantially along their entire length fornormally urging said elements outwardly as yarn is wound therearound andwhereby upon yarn shrinkage said elements are yieldably displaceableinwardly to relieve yarn stresses.

4. A device of the character described for receiving yarn convolutionscomprising a plurality of longitudinally extending elementscircumferentially spaced from each other, and a helical spring reachingaxially for substantially the length of said elements for normallyurging said elements outwardly to receive yarn wraps therearound andwhereby upon yarn shrinkage said elements are yieldably supported tomove inwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,994,118 Swanson Mar. 12, 1935 1,999,606 Grumney et a1. Apr. 30, 19352,074,217 Grauer Q Mar. 16, 1937 2,576,254 Fletcher Nov. 27, 1951

